No middlemen, no bribes: Have our passport offices turned over a new leaf?

As he sat in the waiting room of the Divisional Passport and Visa Office in Agargaon, Dhaka, Nur Mohammad was surprised. There was not a single dalal (middleman) in sight. Like Nur, many other service recipients were waiting there — some chatting with their companions, while others were browsing social media on their phones.

The waiting room is located outside the main establishment. Inside, on the ground floor, service recipients stood in queues, waiting for their turn to submit or receive their documents. Members of the Ansar force were busy maintaining order.

Nur, an expatriate who works in the Middle East, was visiting Bangladesh on holiday and also had to renew his passport. 

Unlike his past experiences, Nur got his work done before the due date this time, that too without paying any extra charges. "Last time I came here was almost five years ago. At that time, I had to pay a middleman some extra 'speed money' to get the work done within the due time," he said.

Just a few months ago, bribery and the presence of middlemen were common scenarios at the passport offices, both of which played a significant role in determining who received priority and how quickly services were delivered. There are 72 passport offices in the country, of which 62 are regional. 

After the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government, however, many service recipients took to social media claiming that service at the passport offices has changed a lot, for the better.

Some recipients complained about the administrative complexities as well. One service recipient came to the Agargaon office with his 10-year-old niece to renew her passport. He found the process full of redundancies. Despite having the necessary documents and signatures of both parents, the officials told him to bring the kid back with her parents again. "I already have all the required documents, right? Why do they need her parents to show up in-person again?" he asked.

Rifat (not his real name), a Mirpur resident, came to the Agargaon passport office with his mother to renew his passport. "The tentative date for delivering the passport was on 9 December. But I got it more than two weeks before the due date — all without spending any extra money," he said. He had no complaints, though his mother found the officers and attendants as rather "unwelcoming".

Abu Nayeem, another service recipient, said that he faced no delays, nor did he pay any bribes. "This is the second time I am here. When I came here the first time, there were a bunch of middlemen trying to convince me to take their service. I was determined that I will not take their service, even if I have to go through some hassle," Nayeem said, adding, "This time I saw no middlemen, and the process was much smoother."

AHM Ashikur Rahman, an assistant director at Agargaon passport office, said, "We closely monitor the operations in case any frauds or middlemen try to take advantage of the people who lack the technological know-how." 

He pointed to CCTV footage of a middleman trying to convince people outside the office. In the next clip, he showed the middleman tied to a pole by Ansar forces and later being handed over to the police.

But complexities still remain. 

Motiur Rahman (not his real name) came to the passport office for a correction to his passport. The office told him that he would need police clearance. For the police clearance from his hometown Jamalpur, he allegedly had to bribe the police Tk3,500 and for clearance from the police station near his residence in Dhaka, he had to pay an additional Tk3,000.

Despite this, his documents were returned; the passport office said that they have not received the Jamalpur clearance notification yet. "I called the police officer in my hometown, and he said that he had sent the clearance," said Motiur.

"Finally, I went to a middleman to sort this out. I paid him another Tk5,000 and came here again for an update. The response is still the same," he added.

Some middlemen remain, but they only target people that seem to be from relatively underprivileged backgrounds. On the other hand, those who seem to be educated or from a privileged background are less likely to be approached by them.

"We are a small team managing this office. During the office hours, we are overwhelmed with various tasks. Even after that, we make an effort to monitor fraudulent activities whenever possible," said Ashik. "In the past couple of months, we have identified and handed several fraudsters and middlemen over to the police," he added.

Application and verification processes still complex

On paper, the application process for an e-passport is rather straightforward. After you fill in all necessary details online and book a date for submitting all documents, you have to pay the fees. 

Then, on the scheduled date, you need to visit the passport office with the following documents: a copy of the online application, payment receipt, a copy of the electricity, gas, or WASA bill of your residence, a photocopy of your national ID card, and a copy of your old passport, if you have one. You need to take the original documents as well.

After that, the passport official will take your photo, fingerprints, and iris scan, and give you a receipt with collection details. Once notified via SMS or email, you can collect your passport by presenting the receipt. For individuals under 18, a birth registration certificate, photographs of both parents, and photocopies of their national ID cards must also be submitted, and both the parents have to be present as well.

But many service seekers have faced seemingly arbitrary requests for other documents that are not mentioned during the online application. Some recipients also find the entire process to be full of administrative complexities and redundancies. 

One service recipient came to the Agargaon office with his 10-year-old nephew to renew his passport. Despite having the necessary documents and signatures of both parents, the officials told him to bring the child back with his parents again.

"I already have submitted all the required documents, right? They were present when the passport was made for the first time. Why do they need his parents to show up in-person again?" he asked.

But Assistant Director Ashik disagreed. "The rules are there for a reason, and we are not the ones who set them in the first place. We have to deal with thousands of people everyday, hence, service seekers have to be patient and abide by the rules," he explained.

Though things have eased at the passport offices, the process is still wrought with other complexities that still result in sufferings for service seekers.

One such persistent problem is the process of police clearance. Police clearance often takes too long, and in many cases, people need to pay "speed money" to police officers.

"I got my passport without any extra charges or any help from any middleman," said Hasan Samir, a resident of  Brahmanbaria. "But police clearance took much longer than it was supposed to, delaying the process by a few days," he added.